Fan the Coals of My Cursed Fire With Raven Wings
by InkyStake
Summary: Sasuke is reborn into a world that has Hogwarts and wizards. A series of loosely connected shorts.
1. Loyal

Disclaimer: I don't own HP or Naruto.

* * *

Loyalty. It has taken so long for him to learn what his brother and his friend and his teacher had tried to get him to see, to learn what they had known near instinctively. Sasuke wondered why, when Konoha had wronged them so much, why they still gave everything for the village. It took him years and several wars and the soft smile on a dying Naruto's face and the despairing scream in a bloodied Sakura's throat that he couldn't voice himself to get him to see why they had prized loyalty. So when he saw a child in pain, a child who held the same emblem he had emblazoned on the chest of his robes, he stepped forward and cut down the aggressor. With words and not a sword, because this world had no ninja.

"What is a wizard?" he sneered with all the disdain of a noble clan that existed not in this dimension. "Before me is an idiot waving around a magic stick. Is your wand all the wizardry that you are?"

"My family has been magical since the Plantagenet kings still ruled the magical world, you ignorant mudblood."

"Shall we then match your blood with mine? I will even fight with no wand, as befits a 'mudblood'. Or is the fact that you were birthed out of your father's sister's womb all that you can claim for your so-called 'blood purity'?"

The Uchiha clan has always had an affinity with fire. Hogwarts learned that day that it was a mistake to anger, or even irritate, someone who held Fire as part of their soul.

Sagara Sasuke, eleven years old, was from then entrenched in the hierarchy of the school as Dangerous.

Sasuke did not care for labels. He kept to himself and haunted the library, wanting to know more about these people who had the potential to attain the power of the shinobi and did not. He read of histories and inventions and dark lords.

At the end of it, he snorted.

It was fear.

They were afraid of their own power.

Their institutions were built to hide and curtail that power. They weakened themselves to the point that those without magic strengthened and flourished while they rotted from the inside, unable to grow out of their self-imposed boundaries.

A body slid into the bench opposite him. Grey eyes watched him calmly. "I like your eyes," the teenager said. "With those eyes of rebellion, of understanding, will you join the Ravenclaw Research Group?"

It was the first time in two centuries that the RRG had a first year representative.

After all, Uchiha Sasuke had felt the most free when he was part of Taka-han. Eagles were almost the same as hawks and ravens nearly the same as crows.


	2. Brother

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto or HP

* * *

Sasuke stared at the squalling infant held in its mother's arms – their mother, he reminded himself for the nth time, even if he couldn't equate the civilian woman with retired jounin Uchiha Mikoto.

Estrellia Evans smiled at him, freshly discharged from the hospital and euphoric with the glow that came from new motherhood. "So what do you think of your new little sister, Sasuke?"

Sasuke marveled once more at the coincidence that had given him his old name at his rebirth. Of course, it could just be the Shinigami smirking at him from the afterlife him but he really didn't want to think that. Bad things happen to people who catch a death god's attentions.

"Small," he answered his mother's question.

She huffed a laugh. "Concise," she teased.

He gently poked the infant, who had a small swirl of red hair on her mostly bald head, in skepticism mixed with awe that this was a tiny person. Was this, he wondered, what Itachi felt when he saw Sasuke for the first time? "Her name?"

"Gasp. Two words. Miracles _do_ happen."

Sasuke stared flatly at his mother, but being a five year old sucked because she only laughed at him. Then her smile suddenly turned soft. "It's Lily. Lily Evans."

Sasuke blinked. This life's grandmother on his father's side was named Yuriko. Admittedly she was the only one of his father's family that his mother liked, even after the divorce. She was also Sasuke's favorite family member. Did she name the child to include Sasuke too, even if their family had split two years ago? Sasuke was suddenly filled with a surge of affection that normally he wouldn't have acknowledged. He was still an Uchiha though and instead of letting his mother see it, he turned to his sister, who had grasped his finger lightly, and nodded. "It's a good name."

He would be the best brother ever, he vowed silently.


	3. Father

Disclaimer: Don't own HP or Naruto

* * *

Sasuke was an elite ninja. He could move with the shadows, unseen even in bright sunlight. Being reborn and still only just ten years old was just a minor misstep. He narrowed his eyes as his father who was reading the paper and fiddling with a briefcase of documents, indicating that he was going on a business trip today. Sagara Jinnai looked up and then lit up at the sight of him.

"Sasuke-kun! I'm going on a little trip. Sure you don't want to come?"

"No thanks, father." He'd gone on one business trip once and then quickly determined that he was never going again even if everytime the meeting would last more than a week, his father was adamant that Sasuke tag along. The thirty-year old man inevitably pouted at him but Sasuke was subjected to that horror too often that he was immune. Why in the world did he get a father that was like a combination of Kakashi and Naruto!? He could have done without the emphasis on their moronic parts.

It was probably for the best that Sasuke was so much older than his physical age implied.

"Aw, really? I wanted to see you spill coffee over the old Gregori's lap this time," Jinnai sighed dreamily.

"I was six," Sasuke protested half-heartedly. "The cup slipped."

Jinnai smirked at him. The man knew his son was more mature than he looked and frighteningly intelligent. It was one of the reasons he allowed Sasuke so much freedom. As long as the boy didn't burn down the Palace, he was pretty much left to his interests when Jinnai went on the shorter ones of the many seemingly endless business trips.

"You have the numbers to call, right? Alright then! Bye, Sasuke! I'll be back in three days." He waved.

Sasuke sighed and lifted his hand. He knew from experience that if he didn't give some sign of acknowledgement, his father would stand there waving insistently until he did. He was that kind of idiot.

Jinnai beamed at him and left.

Sasuke ate his breakfast leisurely and started calling the five numbers he called every time his father was out of the country. After he assured the people that he would be fine, he went back to his room and pulled out a neatly wrapped package.

Ten minutes later, he was on a bus rolling out of London. He stared at the familiar scenery speeding past. It was a rather peaceful ride. He had finally made a breakthrough with the odd chakra that he had unlocked when he was four and he was on his way to see his sister.

A small smile cracked his lips.


	4. Sister

Disclaimer: I don't own HP or Naruto

* * *

Sasuke was seven when he next saw his younger sister. Cries of delight and fearful whispers led him to a kitchen where food floated above two delighted children. He blinked.

"Which one of you is doing that?" he asked. Petunia, two years older than Lily, smiled at him and exclaimed that wasn't her sister adorable?

His mother gasped at his sudden appearance and her husband leaped and turned to face a perceived threat. Hn. The man was willing to protect his family at least.

"Sasuke," his mother sighed in relief, but still glancing worriedly at the floating dishes. "I didn't know you were in the country."

"Father changed his plans at the last minute. He wants me to go to school here for a few years." His bag was full of academic information and schedules.

"Are you going to tell?" aggressively demanded her husband. Henry Evans. Sasuke had demanded that his father look into the man his mother was marrying so he knew the man had no outstanding faults. It was good that Henry was protective. Sasuke wasn't going to be around that much, even with his schedules planned to the hour.

"They will not come to harm." It was a promise and a threat and Henry Evans relaxed. The man's esteem rose in Sasuke's eyes. He wondered whether the man saw past the facade that was the seven-year old child but he doubted it. The man had been a soldier, he knew. He likely saw that Sasuke was more mature than seven years and left it at that.

He left the folders of school information with his mother and wandered outside to the scraggly lawn with his sisters. Yes, if Henry Evans would protect his mother and sister then he had no problem adopting another.

Petunia looked at him with large blue eyes. "You're Lily's brother?"

"And yours." He smiled a bit as she lit up. His smile widened as Lily sat on the wilting grass, her toddler legs not able to walk too far. "Have you ever cloud-watched?"

He was going to teach both of them meditation. It was a basic skill for any Uchiha. He didn't want to teach them the same way he'd been taught – this soft world would likely class it as child abuse. The only other meditation method he knew was what Shikamaru used, so Nara-style it was. "No? Let me get a blanket and I'll show you."

He'd already seen a little shaded hill that was visible from the front door. It would do perfectly.

They were young enough that they followed what he said and inexperienced enough that he was seen as an authority. He looked at the eager eyes that traced the movements of the clouds above. A smile tugged at his lips and he lay back and demonstrated how to breathe properly. He was already looking forward to his weekends from school.

His father would allow the visits, if Sasuke spent most holidays and the summer with him or in Japan.


	5. Grumpy

"You're a wizard."

Sasuke waited for the child to make his point. Severus Snape bit his lip nervously but forged on.

"Lily didn't know she's a witch. Why didn't you tell her about you?"

Sasuke let himself study the boy who was fidgeting but holding his ground. He made a decision. "If you plan on continuing your association with my sisters, then come to the park at nine in the morning tomorrow."

He turned and left.

"But -"

Severus stared at the retreating fourteen-year old in bewilderment.

* * *

As he entered the park, he gaped as a nine-year old and an eleven-year old were taught how to _walk on trees._ "What? How -"

"Magic is a tool with multitudinous purpose," Sasuke told him grumpily, only just awakened after a late night of making sure the house was as secretly secure against magic as he could make it. "The wielder has more limitations than it does."

"But she's a muggle."

"And?"

Severus stared at him, then at the blonde girl he'd so insulted.

"Nothing?"

He'd learn, years later, of the eastern magics and the energy they called ki and he'd sigh in exasperation. The older male was taciturn at the worst of times. Wizards knew that their life-force entwined with their magics so the ability to convert life-force into energy was somewhat familiar. Of course, it was exceedingly more dangerous. And the older boy had taught it to a pair of pre-teens.

Those dark eyes met the younger boy's black. "Do you know how to meditate?"

Severus nodded.

"Have you ever heard of Occlumency?"

Severus nodded again, more hesitantly.

A considering smile touched the older boy's face. "Hn."

Slytherin, Severus thought immediately in alarm, even though the eagle pin on the boy's shirt collar was evident.

Two years later, upon entering Slytherin where his gently-used robes and books made him a mockery in the house that generally held the wealthy, he thought it again even if the fifth year was lost to the house of snakes long ago.

Selwyn, two years older and of a family more known than the Princes, just apologized. "I replaced all of it, alright, so we're square, yeah?"

"Yes," Severus said numbly as the package of new robes and school supplies, all of the highest quality, were placed on his bed. "Thank you."

The other Slytherin retreated, with a final considering look at him.

The very next day, he sought out the taciturn Ravenclaw that was his best friend's brother. "What about Lily?"

"I will take care of it."

Severus Snape went to bed more hopeful than his mother's words caused him to be.


	6. Research

Remus Lupin was probably the most observant first year of his current generation. The instincts of the wolf within him were only part of what made it so.

Were he not Bitten, he could have gone into Ravenclaw with glee and _flourished_. The hat had allowed him into the house of the oblivious only because he prayed so mightily for it. His condition would not be ferreted out in the first week, at least.

What he had not counted upon was the change in the school wrought by the words of a first year just five years past, none more so in the House that he should have gone into. How should he have known that these days, Ravenclaw would not let its own go so easily?

* * *

How could Remus Lupin have known that the Ravens of his particular generation were some of the most rabid researchers in Hogwarts history? Anti-social, often dogmatic, irritatingly factual, swots, were only some of the stereotypes that permeated others' knowledge of the house members.

It was a wonder that for centuries, the most anti-social of those Ravens even agreed to be part of an established group. It was not a wonder that Sasuke managed to get an invitation within the first week of his magical education to join a schoolboy's approximation of an underground society of researchers. It was like Oto all over again, but without the snakes and the constant dripping of human blood from the dissection tables.

He usurped it within three days.

The grey-eyed leader of that current RRG allowed it, amused that he'd been relegated to a figurehead by an apparently muggleborn firstie.

It did not mean that he did not lead, or that he did not participate. He watched the dark-haired first year ask questions, then the subtle prodding that created projects out of those questions.

He watched with a keen eye and laughed happily. He was as Slytherin as he was Ravenclaw after all.

They understood each other.

* * *

A day after the first full moon in Hogwarts, after a subtle whisper of a rumor reached particular ears, Remus Lupin found himself hustled gently but firmly from the stacks to a 'Ravenclaw-owned' private library table and a collection of parchment put in front of him.

"You want to study me?" he squeaked after he read the first paragraph.

A pale, elegant finger reached out to the papers, flipped a few pages, then tapped a clause that indicated 'no permanent physical harm, no invasive procedures without consent' and similar assurances.

"If I don't agree?"

The pale hand flipped to the last page. It was a magically binding contract to not speak of the offer or the fact that he was a werewolf. It was already signed with a half-dozen signatures and was just waiting for his own mark.

The initial contract was also a magically binding contract. He relaxed a little and read through the whole thing carefully. By the time he was getting to the end, it was difficult to curb the anxious excitement. He was being offered ten galleons a month, access to the Ravenclaw Research Group library, and he could propose projects of his own.

He bit his lip. Since he'd become a werewolf, his parents had not been well-received in their community and they had to move. Ten galleons was low pay for an adult unskilled non-were laborer. It would help the finances a lot.

He read through the contract three times, looking for loopholes.

"I'll sign."

He didn't need to say it.

They already knew he would.

One by one, the six heads of the RRG signed under his scrawl.


	7. Were

Disclaimer: I don't own HP or Naruto.

"Psst."

Remus' ears twitched, a remnant of the night's transformation.

"Psst, Lupin!"

He opened his eyes blearily. A face was hovering over him. He gasped and backed away into his pillows.

The face did the same quickly in the opposite direction. Then the same voice who psst him whispered hesitantly. "Are you, you know, Lupin?"

"Yes!" he retorted in an indignant whisper. "Who are you?"

"See he talks, I don't think werewolves talk."

Two people shuffled closer, into the boundaries of the curtains that screened the bed. They were older, he saw; maybe in fifth year.

"So?"

He looked at them blankly.

"How do you feel, after the, er, transformation?"

Understanding dawned. "Are you with the research group?"

"Yes, yes," said the girl impatiently. "so answer the question!"

The boy with her rolled his eyes. "Sorry about her, she's enthusiastic. I'm Markus Gaines. That's Edelhart Hightower. Are you alright?"

"Yes," he said hesitantly.

"Define 'alright'." the girl demanded. "Does that mean alright, I don't feel any different from before the transformation; alright, I'm feeling a little howl at the moon is needed; alright, I want to eat you and gnaw on your bones; al -"

"Edie!"

Gaines sent him a frantically apologetic look. Remus Lupin stifled a sudden laugh, more at the oddness of it all than anything else. "I'm feeling a little sore."

"Sore? Muscles, joints, where?"

"Everywhere? I normally stay here the day after...well...and I get really hungry too."

Hightower scribbled quickly on a piece of parchment. "What does Madame Schnernos do afterward?"

"I don't think there's anything to be done. She just tells the house elf to help me to the dorm."

The girl looked up from her parchment. "Not even a pain reliever?"

He shook his head.

"Do you know why? Maybe potions would have a damaging effect on your body after the transformation?"

"Er, I don't..."

"You'll be here all day, won't you?"

"Yes, I -"

"I'll have more questions later." She grabbed Gaines' arm and pulled him away. The older boy barely had time to nod goodbye to Remus.

The first-year shook his head and lay back against the pillows. That was...weird. He closed his eyes, falling back to sleep.

* * *

"Psst!"

"I'm awake," Remus said, eyes still closed.

"Madame Schernos doesn't know a lot about werewolves, does she?" came the rather disapproving tones of the Hightower girl.

Remus cracked open an eye. "I don't think many healers do. Few weres go to St. Mungos."

"It's an affront to the academic community," the girl hissed. "Werewolves might be a minority but there is no excuse for such ignorance!"

Gaines stuck his head into the curtained area. "By the way, we were never here. Poor Madame Schernos didn't know quite what to say. Apparently, they're keeping your existence secret. I'm keeping watch."

The girl, who was now rummaging through her bag, didn't appear to hear. "We'll have to correct the oversight ourselves!"

Remus patiently answered the questions that were just tripping over her tongue. He ignored the manic scribbling that increased in furiousness with every question and answer. If she was going to document weres, he would do his best to disseminate correct information. His hands twitched, remembering all the books that said he was a dark creature, a mindless beast, not human, not worth it to be saved.

He would change all those books, so that young weres like he was would not feel like he did. So that they would not blunder blindly into costly mistakes or become afraid of their own bodies and thoughts.

Remus Lupin was young and full of hope.

* * *

"Psst!" came the third time that day.

"I've been expecting you." He felt like the villain in a cheap action movie. He repressed the urge to end with a 'mwahahaha'.

"Any allergies, Lupin?"

"I don't think so."

She offered him a potion.

"Is that mint? A muscle relaxant?"

The manic look in Hightower's eyes returned. "You can smell the potions ingredients?"

The parchment and quill made another appearance and questions on his enhanced senses started. Remus wondered where she stored her parchment. The sleeves of her robe?

The muscle relaxant potion took care of a good part of the soreness but his joints were still creaky. He dropped off into the deep sleep that usually eluded him until a week after the full moon.

He was young and full of hope. That only meant he had time to change and the will to make the changes.


	8. Eyes

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Harry Potter.

* * *

Sagara Sasuke, twelve years old, stood still at the bathroom sink and stared in shock. The mirror before him could not lie – he had replaced the talking annoyance with an entirely nonmagical one in his first year. He did not deny that more than once he wished this life had the Sharingan but the shadow tomoe circling within in his green, green eyes was unexpected.

He spent a moment in denial, that part of him that wanted to leave those eyes in another world and another lifetime. Another part was glad there was a sign that the Uchiha was not just misplaced memories and a vaguely similar resemblance. His eyes did not tear, definitely.

It was not the Sharingan, not the eyes of misery that had caused the Uchiha to self-destruct and disappear from the Elemental Countries.

But it was a reminder that no matter how different wizards were from ninja, they were still humans. Humans were petty creatures who sought to rule those lesser than them and either bow to or destroy those larger than them.

He should have expected that simple words would have elicited retaliatory action. These were children and they had not been bought up to see superiority in physical prowess. Their power was in words and mind, not body.

Foolish. The balance of their mind and body was too weighted in one direction.

He was not going to enlighten them. It was an advantage that he had. A needed one now that he knew he was a person of interest.

Tensions in the discussions of blood and its importance were rising higher and higher with every day. Sasuke knew such things did not escalate without help. He was ninja after all, saboteurs and rumour-mongers were an inevitable part of life.

Soon, the architect of all this unease would show himself and Sasuke would know his target. Lily had shown signs of having the same magic within her and he would not subject her to a place where her ancestry would cause her to be trampled under the ignorance of bigoted weaklings.

Petunia had not but this world had already shown itself to be treacherous in of itself, despite being all civilians. Maybe he could teach them something of chakra. He knew there were texts that spoke of energy within the living body. It would not be far different.

He willed the shadow of the Sharingan to fade from his eyes. It might not be the eyes of the Uchiha but it was something. Something he could use and train. It was time to see what these new eyes could do.

He already knew they saw magic and magical traces. He wanted to know if the eyes could dissect a spell or direct it. He smirked. He was definite that the idiots who made the mistake of ambushing him would be willing to help him with a few experiments.

 **AN. Thanks for the reviews all!**

I'd like to clarify though, that the RRG is not helping Remus. They just want to know what makes a werewolf tick. In a group that holds mostly Ravenclaws and some Slytherins, the well-being of a werewolf is far far eclipsed by the questions like 'how does it work' and 'learn how to kill it'. Werewolf prejudice remember? They're just somewhat polite about it. Just think of most of the RRG as similar that crazy Titan researcher in Shingeki no Kyojin; Hange or Hanji, I think.

Suffice to say, the only thing keeping Remus alive at this point is a magical contract and the fact that Dumbledore accepted him in the school at all. They'll probably learn to work with him later on instead of seeing him as an experiment, familiarity breeding understanding and all that, but not in the first year or even the second year.


	9. Language

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Harry Potter.

* * *

Wizards were enamoured of words, Sasuke thought.

Voldemort. An amalgam of French and English.

Why those languages, specifically? The Elemental nations only used one language, though others were known. One language is what the Uchiha knew and spoke, because their clansmen and their village and their comrades knew and spoke it. There was no need for another. They lived and breathed and thought one language.

This world had as many languages as there were nations, as many dialects as there were tribes and communities.

And yet, wizards were so enamoured of words.

Sasuke could see the advantage of numerous languages, numerous codes, and numerous cultural quirks. People spoke differently and thought differently when they knew different languages, or knew more than one language. It was admittedly beautiful, the many crevices and crooks and bends and turns that language might flow into and even create.

In this awe of words, he was most certainly a wizard. Words were ideas and symbols and knowledge. How infinite were the ideas in this world, compared to before.

Voldemort was also a wizard. Sasuke frowned. Was the name French and English or purely French?

The word _vol_ could mean flight or theft. Vol was also the heraldic symbol depicting a pair of wings. Was the last an English _mort_ or a French _morte_?

Did it matter when both could be used to mean similar things? The English _mort_ was the horn sounded when a hunter's prey fell. The French _morte_ was death. Or was Voldemort more precise in his naming of himself?

Voldemort could mean literally Flight of Death, to strike fear into enemies through the swiftness of their demise. It could mean Deathdealer, one who robs you of life. It could also mean Winged Herald of Death, taking the symbology a little further.

Did the man behind the name see himself as a savior, a revolutionary, a warrior, a killer, or an idealist? Or something else?

In any case, it did not bode well for the peaceful future of the wizarding communities.

Still, the name was so... unsubtle. Was Sasuke really taking someone with such a dramatic name seriously? Especially as the person was, at least in part, advocating societal change on a conservative platform? He'd heard the whispers of discussion in the ranks of government.

A name like that would only jeopardize recruitment in all but the most extreme factions. Also, a nameless dark lord would probably strike greater fear into the masses by removing a concrete target for their emotions.

Then again, he was too much of a ninja to not appreciate the way fear clouded the mind of enemies and engendered confidence in allies. Still. Voldemort was too unsubtle a name, even if wizards loved their names nearly as much as they loved their words.

Maybe Voldemort was a feint and he was planning to incite a counter-revolution with his real persona at the helm of the 'light' agenda?

It was still early days. The man had not yet revealed himself fully to the masses. Sasuke had time.

Maybe he could invite Lily to tea this afternoon. She could tell him if Petunia had been hinting at wanting something for her birthday. Their mother had written that the thirteen-year old had aced her last tests. His blonde sister deserved a treat, and maybe if she got into that school Jinnai so wanted Sasuke to go to, his father would stop pouting about lacking non-magical things to brag about to his business associates.

He smiled as he stood, his chakra sense already spreading across the castle to find his sister.

* * *

A year later, at the end of his sixth year exams, he was once again contemplating the name of the newly revealed dark lord.

He paused, scribbled a few more letters into his doodles, and stared.

He laughed.

Three years later, he was still laughing. They had given the dark lord the appellation: He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

Wizards could be too enamoured of words and names.

* * *

 **AN. Thanks for your reviews!**

James Potter at this point is still an arrogant toerag and knows nothing. He doesn't become close to Lily until 5th or 6th year, so he couldn't know much about her until then. By that time, he probably knows Lily has a brother but considering Sasuke would graduate in their 3rd year he isn't going to know who the brother is until much, much, much later. Possibly just before they marry.

Of course Sasuke's going to protect Petunia. At the heart of it, he and Naruto are the same in that they want family. The things that warped him into drag-form Sasuke are a lifetime and a universe away - they influence him somewhat but don't control him. Besides, Petunia's still a kid and the jealousy isn't apparent since Sasuke doesn't play favorites (Why would he, since he saw what that did to his family? He also knows what its like having a talented sibling.) She also has unlocked her chakra coils and has some power of her own (not as much as an Elemental nation ninja but still), so she has that to play with.


	10. War

"Speaking of competence, what is this I hear about marauding pranksters?"

Remus flailed a little at Sasuke's unexpected question, then caught himself.

Too late.

"Aha," Lily crowed. "I knew it was that stupid Potter! Don't tell me you've joined those morons, Remus?"

"They've started targeting Slytherins," snarled Severus, glaring.

"Oh?" Sasuke studied the young potions prodigy. "Perhaps they need...competition, if they have that much energy after classes."

"No," Remus said in horror as Lily lit up and Severus looked considering.

"Ooh, we can call ourselves, er...something that opposes...what's the idiot's group?"

"The Marauders," said Remus, resigned, after struggling to resist Lily's determined gaze.

"Boys. Hm, maybe we need masks? I don't want to be found out that easily."

"And something to cover the hair." Severus put in, eyeing Lily's red locks. "We can't be caught by people who know how we act and what we look like." The lone Slytherin turned and smiled at Remus innocently.

Remus knew better than to trust that face from any of the three people he was studying with.

"Do you know, Occlumency comes naturally to weres because the attempts to control their urges during the change?"

"I did know that, actually." Remus slid further away from the Snape warily.

"Do you also know that Occlumency makes it easier to control emotion-based bodily reactions?" Severus continued.

Remus groaned. "You mean it makes it easier to lie."

"No, no. It only makes it easier to...redirect people's attention from things they're better off not being attentive of."

"I'm not going to be your spy-slash-saboteur."

"Of course not!" Lily said. "It's not fun if your sworn nemeses were incompetents or even if they just looked like incompetents. But some information exchange wouldn't be amiss. Just think, all the benefits of knowing exactly where our pranks would be!"

"All the drawbacks when they find out I've betrayed them."

"You're not going to betray them, you Gryffindor," Severus rolled his eyes in irritation. "You're going to tell them everything. Except who we are, of course."

"And you're keeping that a secret because I'll kick your arse," Lily chimed in cheerfully.

"Yes, she'll do that," Severus said exasperatedly. Gryffindors all around him, for crying out loud. "And also, you can tell them we kidnapped you to challenge the Marauders to a prank war and you're not going to tell who we are because we wore masks and we've promised to tell you the details of a prank once a week. No need for serious threats. Because you're not going to be a spy, you're our _liaison_. Right?"

Remus would never tell him that his attempt to look menacing on that last question was more cute than threatening. Lily had no compunctions about giggling at her best friend.

"It sounds plausible," Remus was a bit relieved he didn't need to lie to some of the first people that were accepting of who he was. Also, the more he thought about it, the more fun it sounded. Even if he was sure 'liaison' was just Slytherin speak for 'spy'.

Sasuke smiled into his tea.

Three days later, a box of ceramic masks and hooded jackets were smuggled into their 'headquarters'. The redheaded, newly dubbed Masquerade leader squealed at the cream-colored masks molded into a vaguely animal-face shape and painted in dramatic orange-laden swipes of a brush.

* * *

"We're being challenged?" Sirius Black's eyes were wide.

"Remus, Remus, Remus," James slung an arm over the werewolf's shoulders. "Surely you know that _we_ are the premier makers of trouble in the whole of Hogwarts. Now you say there are people who want to take the place of the humbly gallant, handsome, and talented Marauders?"

"Cause all that's truly humble, really," Peter said sarcastically to Sirius, who laughed.

"Well, where are they then?" demanded Sirius.

"You're going to accept?" yelped Remus.

"It'd be fun!" James seconded. Then paused. "I say, Remus, you've seen these challengers right?"

"Yes..."

"They trust you to an extent, right?"

Remus sighed.

* * *

It was halfway into the second term when smoke suddenly exploded into being at the dais before the teacher's table and the candles dimmed. A few of the adults jumped with an oath but Dumbledore, eyes curious and twinkling in amusement, waved them back to their seats.

Music, sweet and haunting, slid into existence and shapes formed in the fog. Three foxes tumbled gracefully into sight, then reformed into three human figures, encowled and masked in tones of cream and orange. The middle figure that was the flute player and the two to either side of him stilled in dramatic poses, showing off their similarly orange and cream jackets and loose black trousers. The flute player backflipped, and landed crouched with his back to the teacher's table. He produced a drum and started tapping with his palms and fingers, a quick, light beat. The other two burst into motion, leaping and flipping in rather impressive feats of acrobatics.

Four pops and more smoke formed into shadowy shapes. One with a dog's head, one with a wolf, another with antlers, and the last with a rat head.

James Potter made a sound of indignant protest because what else could this be? The two masked figures started silently taunting the four shadow shapes that started mock-fighting with the taunters, ineptly trying to mimic the graceful acrobatics. The one of the four planted a careless antler into the ear of the wolf-headed shadow beside him who shoved the antlered shadow into the rat who tripped and all three went down in a heap of flailing shadow limbs.

The school got over their surprise at the unexpected and laughed.

The dog-headed one tried to help the three and the two masked figures grabbed a shadow carpet and pulled. The shadow with the dog head went down with a mournful howl.

As the laughter heightened, one of the fox acrobats pointed into the student tables and made an unmistakable 'come at us' motion.

Then the tables exploded in multicolored smoke and laughter turned into screams and shouts of outrage. The smoke dissipated quickly.

Of course, the foxes were gone.

Dumbledore laughed heartily, clapping. "The mysteries of the school grow by the year!"

McGonagall eyed him with a glaring exasperation. He smiled with cheerful innocence at her, waving away the pink smoke from his steak.

"That does it," Sirius Black hissed from inside a column of dissipating green smoke. "This is war."

"Aye."

* * *

 **AN.** Pirates vs. Ninjas, wizard style. Something lighter than the previous posts. This is probably third year. The Marauders should know their animals by now, right? And this is where I imagine a 12-13 year old James Potter to be too Lockhart-y for sanity. Horrors. Also, where Remus is like Hagrid in that he could never be convinced that Snape's menacing looks aren't adorable. This is why limited interaction with the RRG is recommended. Prolonged exposure to mad scientists and SCIENCE! twists your brain.

 **AN to the reviews.** Thanks for the reviews everyone!

Yeah, I was going to go for actual ANBU masks but then I remembered the Death Eaters were masked and cloaked kinda like black and white ANBU, and so the Masquerade have Naruto's more cheerful orange color as a theme instead of scary red and black and grey.

It would be funny if Voldy picked up the mask idea from them though.

Writing about misunderstandings with the Maurauders has been percolating since **misminor** 's review but couldn't really work it in there atm. I'll see what I can do later, though. Something to break up the more seriously inclined posts.


	11. Wand

"What is a wizard, then?" A body slid into the bench opposite him. Grey eyes watched him calmly. "What makes a wizard, if not the ability to call a wand?"

Sasuke met eyes that compelled him to answer. His mouth twisted as he internally sighed in irritation. "This is a table," he tapped the wood upon which rested his book. "It has been very apparently changed from a tree. It has been cut, hewn, and put together like so. One might think that amazing, but that is not magic. That is merely cajoling the world to accede to your whims on its terms and not your own. But by using a wand, one might point at a tree and have it become a table. The power to impose your will on the world and have the world bend to your whims regardless of its own laws. This is magic.

"And if the wand is removed, what then? Is something no more magical than this table is left behind? Unacceptable. A wizard is one with the power to make the world sway to his directive. A wizard does not need a saw or an axe or any other tool to make a table. A wizard is gifted with the power to order the tree to become what he needs.

"I dislike people," he continued quietly, "who see that power and equate it to merely a wand and spells. It is much more than that, deeper and more powerful than that." _I dislike people who look at power and see only what they can take for themselves._

"What a glorious rebellion, more so for your youth," the boy laughed lightly.

Sasuke didn't find it funny. "What do you want?" he asked grumpily.

"I am Rigel Black-Durmond. Would you like to join my club, Sasuke Sagara?"

"What?"

"It's a secret club, of course."

"Why?"

The boy smiled widely. "I could tell you all about it but it would require you signing this little contract."

It could be interesting, Sasuke thought, considering the simple yet sophisticated words on the piece of paper the boy had pushed across the table.

Very interesting.

* * *

He could say that despite the inhumanity of the man, he had learned many things from the Snake Sannin. Things that made him angry, things that made him think, things that made him wish for the impossible. There was a point where he'd nearly cried regretting his childhood interest in only the technique manuals in the Uchiha library and the fact that he had left it all behind, all that knowledge inaccessible and left to rot.

Orochimaru liked to monologue, creepily enthusiastic and endlessly cheerful, when he was working on a breakthrough or something new. His 'assistants' were not amused. He made chakra and the world sounded so very very interesting. He'd killed the man in the end but he undeniably made Sasuke want to listen and learn.

Ninja were killers and their study of chakra and the world around them was geared toward murder and sabotage and war. There were very few civilian chakra workers, mostly servants of nobles and prostitutes, and they did not have a fraction of the mastery available to the samurai and ninja.

But their researchers were relatively determined in their pursuit of new discovery. The human puppets of Suna that became standard to all Kankuro's students, the medical techniques that Tsunade had pioneered grew in scope and derivatives even after she left the village, Iwa had actually been working on space-time ninjutsu to counteract Konoha's sudden surge of interest in the Flying Thundergod technique after Naruto unlocked his parents' technique scroll.

Sasuke mentally smirked. The Sharingan was a lovely, lovely cheat. He was pretty sure the blonde had put his name down on the unofficial list of users anyway, even if Sasuke had never used it personally.

Researchers in the magical world were limited to small groups, individuals, and some shadowy organization called the Department of Mysteries that was in the Ministry. Then there was the Ravenclaw Research Group, whose members only joined the Unspeakables if they had connections. In general, they simply split up and did their own thing after graduation.

There was very little drive to enter or fund research and development unless for personal and familial purposes. The wizarding world was all about hiding power.

Well, Sasuke could understand that. He was still ninja after all. More relevantly, he was Uchiha. His family had always been decried as jutsu thieves and people thought their strength built on the backs of others. Sasuke couldn't deny that there were Uchiha like that; people who saw strength only in the clan bloodline talent.

The Uchiha were proud, yes. They were proud because they were strong.

But he knew the Eyes were not everything that the clan was. In the wake of the Massacre, he had forgotten and had striven to forget many things. It was only afterward, after years of dust and blood, that he remembered. Itachi had led him to a training ground once and shown him that the greater number of Uchiha ninja didn't have the Sharingan, and that there were those who grew strong even without the clan bloodtrait.

He learned that only part of the strength of the Uchiha came from the clan's Eyes. The clan collected techniques, yes. They collected, and learned and melded and twisted techniques. The picked techniques apart and put them back together, broke them and remade them until they were better or unrecognizable from the original. Most of the breakthroughs in what eventually became clan techniques were not often done by the members who had the Sharingan. The Uchiha were strong even without their eyes.

His present eyes were not the Sharingan, only a shadow of it. But even without the Uchiha eyes, he could see power in the wizarding world. Sasuke definitely was not a stranger to power. He had been born to it. He had loved and hated it. He had been broken by it. He had craved and fought and scrabbled greedily for it. He had seen the many ways it could be abused and misused; he had gone down paths for power that he dearly regretted.

In the end, he stood bloody at the attainment of his single lifelong goal and knew that he was powerful, and for all that power he had not won.

These wizards...there was logic and advantage in hiding power but there was no excuse for simply letting it rot in storage! He would not be a wizard content with scraps of power and pretty lights from a wand, all in the name of secrecy. It was meant to be used, meant to be wielded, else why would it exist?

* * *

The RRG offered him power in the form of knowledge and he accepted. He was still ninja after all.

* * *

 **AN.** Thanks for your reviews!

Sasuke is being led to an offer he can't refuse. Haha, not really. This is the conversation between Sasuke and the head of the RRG that was supposed to be in the first chapter. So this is still early in first year. Before Christmas holidays, even.

Pardon my seriously awkward writing. If you can insult it in creatively critical ways, it might improve. lol


	12. Graduate

It was Sasuke's last year in Hogwarts when the dark lord finally began aggressive moves, one month after the name of Voldemort became the talk of the nation rather than whispers in the dark. By now, Sasuke had discerned that his agenda was little more than conquest and pride and power.

His followers were far more interesting. Oh, some did follow him for the same reasons, but there were others who hid their hopes under deceit and smiles and bloody oaths.

There were those who thought the muggleborn were truly a blight on magic. There were those who did not and merely played lip service, wanting only action and war. There were those who believed they were making their world stronger. There were those who wanted only to profit from conflict, those who wanted pain and blood, even those who wanted integration with the non-magical. There were those who fought for their name and their family and their friends. All of them were intrigued by this dark lord. All of them wanted change.

Some of them were even Sasuke's.

A smile touched his lips. No matter his bluntness, Voldemort was charismatic, intelligent, and powerful. He'd forgotten how much _fun_ it was, having an opponent of such high caliber.

"Oh," Lily said faintly from across the table, staring at his smile. "That's what Tuney meant."

"Hm?"

"Did you really make that bully disappear from her school?"

"Disappear? I'd have thought a school of such renown would have high enough standards that they would expel a person who was unworthy of their prestige. Bullies that are also idiots in their school roster are not a good advertisement of their competence."

Lily rolled her eyes discreetly while Severus snorted from beside her, still buried in his potions theory book.

Sasuke let them get away with it. Then a thought struck him. "Is Tuney afraid of me?"

"No?" Lily drawled, confused at the odd question. "I thought she was kinda relieved he was gone. She was rather gleeful when she told me you looked like you were going to do _something_. She actually sounded like she would've helped you break his legs."

"Hn."

She looked at him suspiciously. "You didn't break his legs though?"

"No." He might have fallen down the stairs and gained a few fractures in other parts of his body though.

"Pity." Tuney had been half in tears at recounting the pudgy upperclassman's unwanted attentions. She'd almost been ready to leave the school even if she had worked hard for the scholarship.

Sasuke smirked. Was it wrong that he thought his sisters' bloodthirstiness was adorable? Severus, observant and growing in perception, sent him a judging look over his book that Sasuke ignored.

Maybe he should start them on the more diplomatic sides of the ninja way. His sisters would know how to seek out weakness with eyes like eagles and if needed, go after a target like sharks in blooded water. They would be strong and all the more beautiful for that strength.

It would be strength that was needed.

The world was changing rapidly. The landscape of the magical world after Voldemort would be different from the world before Voldemort.

And there would be an 'after Voldemort'. He would not risk the pureblood agenda dominating the magical world.

Sasuke's campaign was growing in strength even as supporters of the dark lord grew in number. This was not a world for a shinobi war, but Sasuke was still very much a player in the game of secrets and twilight dealings. Soon there would be blood in the night and steel flickering between the shadows.

He couldn't wait.

He wondered if he was just unsuited for peace. It had been five years since he heard the stirrings of whispered rumor that had sparked his interest, back when the speaking of a dark lord on the rise would still bring disbelieving laughter and hoots of amusement. He'd heard the rumors and immediately started preparing for conflict.

Now he felt all anticipation at the imminent clash.

* * *

Petunia's sharp glare changed and she lit up when she saw it was him that sat down at her cafe study table. "Saz? What are you doing here?"

"Why do you call me by that inane nickname?" he protested with a half-hearted glare, tapping the table with a temporary privacy spell. "I'm going to school nearby."

Her eyes widened in surprise and happiness. Then she looked thoughtful. "Wizards go to university?"

"Usually apprenticeships. There are few wizarding colleges and none of them in Britain." He leaned back against his chair, stretching his legs out under it.

She studied him for a bit, then a smile touched the edges of her thin lips. "Let me guess, you're going to try and take over the world with a combination of obscurely cryptic magic and pseudo science."

"Hn."

"Don't 'hn' me, I heard from Lily all about how you shadow-ruled Hogwarts. It was bizzarely funny. She said you had minions."

"I did not shadow-rule anything." So that was why Lily had been tailing him a year ago? She was good. Better than Naruto at that age, anyway. He'd been proud of her for that.

She waved his statement away with a part-rotation of a wrist. Sasuke supposed he should be flattered that his sisters thought he could have that much influence. But then again he understood completely why Naruto had set himself the goal of Hokage. Recognition and power were heady reward. Unfortunately, he'd been to a number of Wizengamot meetings, overtly and covertly. It was nothing he wanted part of.

Fortunately, he had people to keep him informed of relevant issues.

"So what course are you taking?"

"Something in the medical field. I haven't decided yet."

She nodded. "I suppose after breaking the laws of the natural world for seven years, many of the sciences would seem tedious."

"There is still merit in them. There are few magicals who delve so deeply into studying the world around." He was still incensed at their ignorance.

"So that's why Lily and Severus take non-magical courses?"

He nodded. The wizarding world could draw in the unaware and entangle them too deeply in substandard thinking. Fear clouded every action and run in subtle currents through every wizard and witch's thoughts. If they taught muggle culture properly in Hogwarts, that fear would not be so pervasive.

Then again, Lily and Remus' inadvertent creation of a non-magical fiction smuggling circle was going very well in that direction. He had no doubt Severus had succeeded in tempting the Slytherins with leather-bound editions.

Petunia had been hearing tales of magic and learning about pieces of magical culture and philosophy since she was nine. She probably understood enough to help incite her sister into introducing more non-magical things in the magical world. Sasuke had no doubts that had she been sorted, she would have landed squarely in the house of the cunning.

"I heard from Mother that you took top ranks in your examinations," he smiled at his sister. "Let's go celebrate."

"Your father already gave me a present."

"Was it loud and entirely lacking in subtlety?"

Petunia laughed. "I thought it was sweet, actually. Then he whipped out my grades and a list of A-levels he'd drawn up. That was a bit creepy."

Sasuke fought the urge to sigh. "He means well. He'll be less enthusiastic now that I'm in the visible world again."

Petunia looked reassured. She raised her brows. "If you're buying, then I know a place."

He felt a small smile light up his face in answer to her not-so-hidden grin. "This won't empty my wallet, would it?"

"Why no, of course not," she said with wide innocent eyes. "They have the best pastry in the area."

She didn't order the pastry.

No, Sasuke thought as his sister teased him and laughed with bright blue eyes. He would not allow a magical agenda that espoused his sisters as lesser to flourish. Itachi killed the clan for him and the village. How could he do less? He would burn the wizarding world if he had to.

It was time to start on certain plans. He doubted that the newly revealed dark lord would be so active yet. Sasuke could spare a year or so for university, now that he'd tested out of all the subjects he could. It would give him time to maneuver and gather information and wait for his people to grow into their places. It would also allow Hogwarts and Dumbledore, who he was always wary of, to forget him. Sasuke was always best in the shadows, he'd learned that in harsh lessons and it was something he'd never forget.

He sliced into his steak and smiled at the taste of spiced sauces. This world, it had many things that he thought he could never have.

* * *

 **AN.** This should have been posted weeks earlier so sorry for the delay. Thanks for your reviews.

The third fox in chapter 10 was actually not Sasuke. It wasn't Remus either. Petunia's about 15 here so she's taking GCSE's. She might have skipped a year. This is because Sasuke doesn't tolerate slackers. Also, I think a lot of her bitterness in canon comes from the fact that a young woman of no discernible talent or looks from the poorer middle-class side of the neighborhood would have significantly fewer options for advancement than others. She'd have been told all her life to lower her expectations until all she could look forward to for a better life was marriage. (We've seen how that turned out.) Couple it with the fact that her younger sister was magical, well. In this story, she has those options because of a brother who actually cares and wants her to succeed.


	13. Puzzle

Disclaimer. Naruto and Harry Potter belong to their respective creators, both of which unfortunately aren't me.

Sasuke was bored so he wandered the castle. It was like a puzzle maze. With eyes that could see magic, it was like a scavenger hunt. The secret passageways, the hidden rooms and alcoves, the stairs that led nowhere – he found them, teased their existence out of the very stones, until he could move like a ghost within the castle.

By his fifth year, he had explored all that Hogwarts would allow him and some that it would not, from the cluttered hidden attic on the seventh floor to the abandoned alchemical research laboratories on the third floor to the massive sleeping snake deep under the dungeons.

By then he was the undisputed leader of the RRG and a number of Hogwarts graduates under the direction of Rigel Black-Durmond, who had entered the Department of Mysteries, were starting to make public some of the fruits of the RRG's labor.

With more interesting things on his plate, schoolwork was starting to pall. So he started leaving marks, hints, puzzles of his own on the castle itself. It was a reminiscent thought of the ninja academy that had actually got him started, where instructors created tricks and games to assist various students with the class material. A lot of those were for clan children and other students who were pursuing specialization. Sasuke thought the castle could use some extra-curriculars as he knew that there was a percentage of the student body that felt the school curriculum to be exceedingly slow in getting to the meat of the subjects.

He was re-creating one of the more obvious leadership exercises meant for small ninja groups when the Bloody Baron appeared from a wall and watched in silence. Sasuke paused and inclined his head. Ghosts were one aspect of Hogwarts that had taken some getting used to.

When the Baron only watched, he continued working silently. After a time, the ghost left. But not after understanding that he held one of the pieces of the particular puzzle Sasuke had wrought on the wall of the dungeon. It was a puzzle both vicious and potentially bloody for all its simplicity. The Baron approved.

They had said not one word to each other.

He blinked in pleased surprise as the wall upon which he'd inscribed a poem from one of the library books rippled and half-concealed the letters in whorls of carved stone ivy.

Whoever designed the castle was a playful one.

Three weeks later, after the Ravenclaw ghost had deigned to assist him with one of his puzzles, he realized belatedly that Hogwarts itself, that embodiment of wizardly learning, was _interested_ in what he was doing.

It was a disconcerting feeling, to know that the building was not merely an automated series of responses to certain stimuli but an actual semi-sentient entity.

He had to admit that he slept outside the castle boundaries for a few days before he was comfortable with residing inside a _living thing_. He was familiar enough with talks of land spirits, as the Uchiha were charged with the keeping of an enshrined deity. It was one of the duties of their noble clan.

After that, he treated the castle and grounds with greater respect as befitting a shrine, something that the greater RRG membership picked up on and spread even if they didn't know the precise reasons.

If Hogwarts had a deity, it would be one of sanctuary and learning. So he consulted the ghosts and soon had the paintings offering advice as well. One night, he had stumbled on Dumbledore inspecting one of his works and before he could slip away the old man waxed on about how little stimulation some students felt about the subject of Transfiguration.

Sasuke could take a hint. Soon he was planning out more puzzles for the classrooms.

It was a Hufflepuff that was the first to notice, a titchy young second year who was out late in the corridors and heavy with homesickness. A few days after, Sasuke was watching him tell the tale to his fellow Puffs.

"...was a bit hidden in the stone and you had to shake its paw before it sits up, then starts moving! Then it begins fighting these awesome wicked wolves! It even wins!"

"I've never seen it," said one of the older Puffs skeptically. "Is it a prank?"

"I don't know but I think it's still there. I can show you! Do you think there are more?"

That kickstarted a concerted exploration of the castle by a House of very tenacious people and, to the reincarnated soul's bemusement, ended up dragging a significant portion of the other three houses into it.

The RRG got into the action, helping come up with ideas and planning out the magics. A lot of them started planning out puzzles then testing them on their fellow members, who of course started retaliating. Some of it was brutal, some of it was glorious, some of it was the most polite attempts at vicious one-upmanship Sasuke had ever seen outside a kunoichi dinner party.

They agreed that the best of the lot would be submitted to the ghosts for approval.

By the time Sasuke graduated, the maze of the school was peppered with games and riddles of varying description, from simple question and answer to subtle games that required tricky thought to deeply complex magical scavenger hunts that could take weeks or months to unravel.

Some of them were left for others who could see and sense the magic underlying the world. Some of them were left for those of discerning eye and mind. Most of them, they were to elicit the laughter and wonder and interest that had been the response of that young Puff.

Sasuke looked back at the castle, with its pennants and towers and the subtle currents of magics within. He had not thought of himself as overly whimsical before.

He left Hogwarts after seven years with a smile on his face.


	14. Yore

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs not to me.

* * *

It was inevitable that the question would be asked.

"What's a muggleborn anyway?"

Severus looked at her like she was crazy then opened his mouth before remembering that this was _Lily_ and that answering the question with the obvious would just annoy her. "Are we doing another project?"

Remus perked up. "Shall I enter it into the Research books?"

Severus looked at him like he was crazier than Lily. "No," he said slowly. "We research, then conclude, then find unassailable proof. _Then_ we enter it into the books, like anything that would contradict the long-standing assumptions of a group who hold power over us and whose power is based on said assumptions. But _before_ that, please wait until I learn enough wards to protect my room."

He was sadly resigned to the chaos this particular research project would bring and his mind was already going through the more complex runeward diagrams in the book that was his last birthday present from Sasuke.

"Great!" Lily cheered. "We're starting next week!"

"We'll need statistics and names first, as well as student rosters and birth announcements." Severus refuted, trying to buy time. The initial search for resources could be played off as something else and would give him two more weeks.

"Oh, we can ask Tuney to ask around the non-magical side! She'll be happy for an opportunity to learn more about magic."

Severus seriously thought of bribing the blonde sister to...then shook his head. He was sadly being infected by Griffindorishness. Unfortunately, he could not get rid of the source. He glared scathingly at Lupin, who blinked in confusion.

No, there was no need for bribery. He would just write Petunia that Lily needed _thorough_ records. That would delay the inevitable by another three days at least.

* * *

Regulus Black sought him out five days later. "You are researching the muggleborn question."

"It's not even been a week!" Severus groaned.

The youngest of the Blacks inclined his head. "Perhaps you should not so loudly debate your findings in the library."

Severus lifted a brow. "We used privacy spells." And when a Slytherin says privacy spells, they _mean_ **privacy** spells.

Regulus smiled.

The budding potions prodigy fought the urge to swear and started running through the privacy wards and bounded fields he knew. He groaned again. All the wards in his book weren't portable and they weren't one-use throwaways. This was going to be so much work. He was so despaired that he simply turned to the younger boy and demanded outright: "What do you want?"

His Gryffindorishness was very loudly not commented on before the other said, "I didn't know your extracurriculars were so interesting."

Sev glanced up, but there was none of the dangerous emotions on the younger Slytherin's face. In fact...was the Black pouting? "I didn't think you would be interested."

"And the Gryffindors?"

"Lily trusts my judgement. Lupin does not know we are acquainted." Sev was about to return to his books when he caught sight of the hesitating look on the other's face. He sighed inwardly. "Aren't you busy enough? I know you have your own interests. Though if you wish to contribute, then Thursdays are generally tea days in the Charms corridor receiving rooms."

Regulus cheerfully, for a Black, agreed as though he were doing them all a great favour and glided off.

Sev closed the tome he had open before him, pulled out parchment and proceeded to scribble out arguments that would persuade Sasuke to help him learn the strongest protection magics outside of bloodwarding.

There was something to be said for Black-flavored teen-age rebellion. The consequences were worthy of overreaction.

* * *

When people say 'the Ministry' they usually referred to their world's administrative body in particular. But often they use it to mean the building where the government offices were contained. The Ministry as a place wasn't actually a single edifice but a row of buildings that were once part of muggle London and bought by a magical Lord just before the Statute was enacted.

An interesting note in magical history was the rush to acquire real property from the non-magicals by those in the know in the years before the Statute of Secrecy went into play. The disappearance of several key properties relating to the Crown was one of the reasons for the fact that magical England was governed by a Ministry and not a Court. The king of the time was very much not amused.

Nonetheless, those who bought up property before William of Orange proclaimed that no magical or non-magical would ever be able to hold land on differing sides made a very pretty passel of knuts. At the cost of magical sovereignty, but who cares about that when you have gold, right?

Not the point, though.

The dimension-shifted space that held the Ministry also held the offices that were vital to the smooth running of magical England. Suffice to say, the Ministry elevator did not only travel vertically.

Most people knew only the major departments. And to most, the Department of Mysteries was held in the basement and not a separate, fully warded building. There were several offices and places that were under the purview of the Unspeakables due to the magics involved in the creation and maintenance of the space. The Wizengamot Trial Hall for one, had secrecy and privacy and truth magics patched into the furniture and grouted into the very tiles. One of the reasons the trial chambers were on the same level as the department entrance was because the chambers were at times used to interrogate powerful wizards/witches who went beyond the bounds of what was 'normal' magics.

Apart from culling the works of powerful wizards, the department of Mysteries was where the government threw magics they think dangerous or should be kept secret or should be studied for the good of the common magical human. There was very little that was taboo to the Unspeakables.

In the same level as the Department of Mysteries was also the innocuous Office for Historical Studies. Seeing the small door cramped into an alcove that most people would pass by without a second thought, it would be logical to assume that the Office was there because there was little space elsewhere.

That would not be the truth.

Lineage maintenance was not given to the Goblins. Wizards were not quite that ridiculous. Gold could be acquired and is available in modest amounts for any person that has few scruples. Real records of the triumphs and failures of your family line are not given to enemies, no matter how 'pacified'. That would be like taking your enemy's sword and sticking it cheerfully into your eye.

It may be prudent to keep the records in a Gringotts vault and they would be safe due to the Treaties, but they were not and never will be for the eyes of Goblins.

The Office of Historical Studies attached to the Department of Mysteries recorded line and magics for each family in the magical world. Wizards valued blood greatly and the unassuming space had more magics to preserve and contain the records within than most other places in the wizarding world.

Most who knew of the OHS thought it was merely a gathering place for outdated information. Those who truly understood that information was power were wary of the place. The few who understood the voracity of the Unspeakables when it came to things they studied meticulously and assiduously kept in the good graces of the said Office. Suffice to say, the head of the OHS was one of the most secret identities in the ranks of the Unspeakables.

The OHS was seemingly little help to the average person, save from the odd student or researcher looking for clarification on historical events. However, to a small subset of the wizarding population the Office was an invaluable resource. It held the official records of familial genealogies as far as the third century BCE. And because they were Unspeakables, the office workers also had a good idea of the unofficial records – in the interests of completion and not anything else, definitely.

A little known fact: there were times when a vaunted pureblood family, in despair of their glorious family line dying out, made a visit to the Ministry to acquaint themselves with the doings of their world then discreetly slipped down to the Department of Mysteries. Just out of curiosity, of course, never really knew what they did down there. Then a sufficient amount of days later, what luck, what good providence! A surprise heir was found to this dying family and announced with great rejoicing.

It was an open secret that blood-magics were used in the Department of Mysteries. It was not widely known that the OHS was also the census-taking arm of the Ministry. It was not widely known that the OHS followed magical bloodlines so assiduously that squibs and squib offspring were still on their unofficial records.

It would surprise many that the OHS came into being because of a group of minstrels and jongleurs, considering the dusty scrolls and manuscripts that are the staple of the place. Centuries ago, chroniclers of various heroes and prominents recorded people's lineages as a matter of course. The profession waned until all that was left was a shadow of that rich tradition, hidden underground where there are still Unspeakables whose primary purpose was to record history and the impact of magic on the world.

With such work for so few wizards, it would be inevitable that, upon a routine request for research material, something might be mistakenly shipped out as 'official' record.

* * *

Regulus Black coughed dustily and turned another page from package sent to them by the Office of Historical Studies. "I never knew Ancient Houses needed so much time to mature."

Severus gave him a grumpy look at the inane observation before scowling back at his own dusty manuscript.

Lily though, looked up from her frantic scribbling. "What?"

"Ancient Houses," Regulus repeated. "A family line apparently needs a recognized and recorded history of two thousand years before they are accorded the title of Ancient House."

"Really? Since magicals live so long, something to aspire to, I guess."

"There are lesser titles. Elder House, for those with recorded history going back as far as Camlann. Newer lines just call themselves Houses or Clans if they have at least five continuous generations of magicals. Then there are the Noble Houses, who have verifiable patents of nobility from various reigning monarchs."

"There have been few Noble Houses created since the Statute, so if you're aspiring, you can strike that one off," Sev grumbled, adding several more lines to his parchment.

"You said few. How would there be any if William III separated magical and non-magical?"

"The old families used to send their squibs or spare sons to the muggle wars in order to gain titles after the Statute was enacted. It's actually why the Black family is a Noble house. Great-great-grand-uncle Rigel won honours in King George's War. Then he died and the title went to his brother, of whom I am in direct descent."

"They do that?"

"Did. The practice was stopped after the Great War when all magical involvement in muggle wars were deemed illegal and punishable by law."

"Fortunately," cut in Sev, dryly. "Wizarding law upholds titles that may or may not have been stripped from the holder by succeeding monarchs. You can find a passel of nobility in the old lines that way. But the Crown still has lists of the magical peerages should they care to consult. To be precise though, only the peerages given out since the Conqueror are on those rolls. The older noble houses and the remains of the royal houses are in the history books. Nature's Nobility particularly glorifies those."

"That means most purebloods, right? But no one uses titles in school."

"The titles mean nothing, Lily," Remus put in quietly. "Most purebloods would never deign to think themselves as ruled by a squib or a muggle, which is what using the actual titles would indicate. Which means they simply declare themselves 'noble' which is vague enough that it could talk about honour rather than favour given by monarchs. But no family line would declare themselves a Noble House or call their head of house a Lord or Lady without the patent of nobility to uphold the claim."

At last the Gryffindor talks, Severus though exasperatedly. The werewolf had been a tad quiet and had mumbled into his tea instead of talking since he saw Regulus at their usual table. At least Sasuke wasn't here or the older boy would have fomented something he thought of as _funny_. He knew Lupin would form his conclusions soon. At least this one Gryffindor wasn't given to loudly decrying what he didn't understand _before_ trying to understand it.

Lily looked bewildered at her fellow Gryff's explanation. "That's...convoluted."

"Isn't it."

"I mean, Adelyn Grafny in sixth year is descended from a duke and her father is a knight. Does that mean she's considered a noble in wizarding terms?"

"Being muggleborn still trumps everything." Remus yawned, though he smiled sheepishly to indicate there was no offense meant.

"Oh."

"Her children might be able to get respect out of it," Regulus refuted, "as they have a recognized magical lineage, even if only one generation."

"What about squibs then? Their children?"

"That's a grey area. Generally, they're considered distant from the family though still connected. But most squibs don't contact their family even if they have magical children."

"Oh," The scope of their project suddenly unfolded to Lily's eyes. Hidden children, children that were not recorded, children disappearing or being excised from the records. And that wasn't even half of what they needed to do. "this is going to be a lot of work."

The Slytherins sighed quietly at the gleam of determination in those green eyes. Remus was looking equally as excited at the work. How precisely, did they get stuck with the two Gryffindors who were Ravenclaws in false clothing?

* * *

Revolutions start unknowingly, with ideas and thoughts and quietly working toward a conclusion. Those willing to fight for those ideas come later. Much later.

* * *

 **AN.** Mistakenly? Come on.

This is Lily and Sev's third or fourth year, possibly.


	15. Blood

Sasuke was shinobi. He knew that the most successful revolutions, because that was what was contained in the mass of parchment before him sent from Hogwarts, were not the bloody ones. The most successful wars were won in the hearts and minds of the people, waged behind the scenes in small gathering places. The pubs and bars, the boardrooms, the debating halls, the dinner parties.

He smiled and stood.

Well, it was time he did his part. His little sisters had worked hard on this after all.

* * *

"Blood purity is not a myth." Sasuke almost smirked at the dumbfounded reactions, quickly hidden, of his compatriots. Carmonia Rosier was frowning. Rigel was smiling into his wineglass. "At least, if we're talking about blood and magical strength."

Mallister Grentle threw up his hands in exasperation. "You were just saying it was stupid!"

"I said, how people saw it was stupid." Sasuke had been a member of a clan obsessed with breeding strength into their bones and flesh, power into their blood. "Blood purity is desirable, even something to study and expand, but only in the matter of family and personal power. Basing a political agenda on it so openly is agitating for civil war."

The Bloody Mist proved that killing off a significant portion of the population because they were born into a different caste only weakened a nation. It also made looking for alliances and trade partners difficult. Hidden Mist, despite the rich natural resources of the Land of Water, was still recovering decades after Mei Terumi became Mizukage.

"Do you remember the year Brums was Defense professor?"

Markos Pucey smirked. "You mean do we remember that six times that year, the masonry in the dueling room had to be repaired?"

"Two times, Gilbert Crabbe destroyed charmed walls with a single spell. And yet, he never won a duel."

"That's because he's stupid." Mally grumbled.

"And that's part of the point." Carmonia grumbled back. "Those of old family lines have ascendance in terms of magical power, even excluding bloodgifts." She looked conflicted. "Until great-grandfather's time, the family had a ritual every three generations that involved the presence of magically-powerful muggleborn. If I had to guess, the children that resulted were halfblooded."

Sasuke nodded to himself. He had read in the Uchiha family journals the practice of acquiring fresh blood by taking clanless ninja as mistresses and lovers. In the lesser bloodlines of the clan, marriage to outsiders was not uncommon.

"And then there are the health complications. I mean, the lifespan of the average magical human is a hundred and twenty, according to the records from four hundred years ago. There aren't official population statistic records of our world but looking at the obituaries in the last year and the Ministry census, our grandparents' and parents' generation rarely lived to beyond ninety years old."

"Why," Markos looked at her quizzically, "do you know that?"

She shrugged. Her lips slanted thinly, wryly. "Father's cousin works in the Office of Historical Studies."

"Ah."

"Hardly seems worth it," said Feriel Bones, returning to their discussion of blood purity. "What's the use of power if you can't properly wield it?"

There was a thoughtful silence. All of their group valued cunning and brains, what would it be worth indeed, if they had power instead?

"So too much marrying within the same bloodline fucks up the brains," Mally concluded, a trifle too cheerfully. There were a few sighs and a couple of mumbled imprecations against Gryffindor. Mally ignored them. "Why did blood purity suddenly gain traction? Before grandfather's time, it wasn't so pronounced."

"Don't your family teach you history, Grentle?" snapped Bernie Mulser, talking for the first time. "The number of squibs and muggleborn increased to levels never before known in the latter part of Victoria's reign. It was thought she was retaliating for her consort getting killed in a magical dispute."

"In the 1800s the British Isles were involved in a total of thirty-four wars on the non-magical side," Sasuke added. "That is over four times the number of major conflicts they fought in the century before. At the time, magicals were expected to join wars to bring their families honour."

The Crown was flexing its power, gaining world-wide territories, creating an empire. It also meant that magical blood was decimated in the battlefields. Those who sought to keep their bloodlines pure found that there were less and less choice for their sons and daughters. Squibs started to pop up with greater frequency. In an effort to revitalize, Magic itself started creating greater numbers of muggleborn.

There was a time when muggleborn were taken into the magical families to be educated, taught how magicals should comport themselves. With the sudden increase in their numbers, fear started permeating minds. Talk of stealing magics started.

Those who before welcomed the odd muggleborn into their houses became hesitant. The muggleborn, a great majority coming from the common classes, remained untutored and unaware. The term 'mudblood' gained popularity, denigrating those who smelled like the offal of the city streets and the country lanes, had no idea of hygiene, and didn't know how to read or write.

Sasuke had to be impressed at the breadth of data his sisters and their friends had to slog through to acquire knowledge so comprehensive. Then again, they had been looking into these records for years. There were statistics showing that a fifth of all children born in the latter part of the 19th century were squibs or as the report stated 'non-wand-channeling magicals'. Of the muggleborn since the early 1900s, a full half were descended of those squibs and therefore technically half-bloods.

He smirked. That was all information no pureblood would want getting out. He wondered how a pack of Hogwarts students acquired it.

Carmonia hummed and the attention of the small group focused on her. "This new dark lord is clever to seek to build on a platform popular with the nobles and the wealthy but the world is still coming off the repercussions of Grindlewald's war and the conflicts of the century before. Apart from the muggle wars that wizards fought there were the purely magical Russian Conflicts of the 1860s and 1880s, plus the Mediterranean War in the 1840s. Four major magical wars in Europe in the last two hundred years. If this research," she tapped a finger on the documents they've all come to discuss, "is viable, then rallying support on a banner of blood purity is the worst decision he's made. Especially as it increasingly appears like battlefields are being readied."

She glanced at Rigel, the only one of them from the Department of Mysteries. The former leader of the RRG only smiled. She rolled her eyes at him and looked at Sasuke. "In the long term, of course. If he moves quickly enough and decisively enough, Britain would likely fall to him. And recent events do tell us he's decisive, at least. Where do you plan on going with this?"

"I am merely looking for opinions on these records."

That drew the exasperated and derisive looks the statement deserved.

"I don't argue in committee," he insisted. "That's Pucey's job."

Markos, who was shadowing his uncle in the Wizengamot, chuckled. "You don't even want credit?"

"This isn't my research."

"How _are_ your little wolfcubs?" Rigel put in, genuinely curious. His contacts still sent him RRG reports and he read every one gleefully even after he left the school. Several of those who graduated in the years after him now worked in his department. It looked like he would read the next generation's reports with similar enjoyment.

"Terrorizing half the school, I imagine," Markos looked a little annoyed. "I can't believe you allowed them to become pranksters."

Sasuke shrugged. Markos had always been overly concerned with dignified conduct. "Practical experience."

Mally sat up from his brooding, looking askance at Sasuke. "You're planning on fighting him in the open."

It was Carmonia's turn to throw up her hands. "Do you really have to go to extremes? This is someone who is powerful enough to be called a dark lord."

There was no doubt in his friends' minds that Sasuke would move against Voldemort. Not with his sisters at stake.

All his family history noted again and again, the Uchiha loved fiercely, deeply, they devoted themselves to things they loved. Then the Kyuubi happened and their love was betrayed, their devotion spat on, until all that was safe to love was the clan.

Sasuke would not allow such a thing to happen here. Lily loved the magical world and her feelings on the divide would be odd to most. She thought of them as 'human' before magical or non-magical. He wondered what she would think of the non-human magical races. Lily was convinced that magic was an extension of her innate connection to humanity and not as a separate thing that needed to be feared. Petunia simply imagined that her sister was a citizen of another nation that was conveniently ensconced in Britain. She was more aware of the divide but like Lily, thought of them as 'human' with an strange talent. It would not occur to her to see herself as inherently inferior.

The reincarnated soul hid a fond smile in his wine.

"I'm not planning bloody war in the near-future," he confirmed. "As it is, there is no real reason to oppose him so brutally."

Even if Voldemort won, Sasuke was shinobi born and bred. Overthrowing a despot would be child's play. In fact, if Voldemort was as astute with government as he was with his campaign, it would be preferable to wait until efficient structures are in place before disappearing Voldemort and taking over a more efficient government.

That didn't mean he wasn't doing anything to oppose the man. With Dumbledore and Voldemort both bright beacons, no one noticed the flickering of shadows between Light and Dark.

The difficult thing about wars was winning over the populace. The wealthy were one thing. Still, the average masses were as powerful as gold and influence when they were united in one mind. It was a consideration he had never given much thought before.

But before, he had the might and name of a clan with centuries of history behind him. Even diminished to a single person, the Uchiha name was still feared and known.

In this world, he was only the son of a businessman, with no antecedents that the magicals would respect. Other than his character, ability, and wits, there was nothing to recommend him.

It was exhilarating.


End file.
